American Idol Season 12 (2013) - Page 3

Some of these guys really surprised me, they sang pretty darn good. I agree with most of the cuts so far.

Feb. 09, 2011 8.4 18-49 and 24.05 million viewers total. Hollywood round, first night, one hour.
Feb. 08, 2012 6.1 18-49 and 18.85 million viewers total. Hollywood round, first night, two hours.
Feb. 06, 2013 4.6 18-49 and 14.27 million viewers total. Hollywood round, first night, two hours.

Feb. 10, 2011 7.3 18-49 and 21.93 million viewers total. Hollywood round, second night, one hour.
Feb. 09, 2012 5.8 18-49 and 18.13 million viewers total. Hollywood round, second night, one hour.
Feb. 07, 2013 4.1 18-49 and 13.15 million viewers total. Hollywood round, second night, one hour.

For that first night of Hollywood round, Idol has lost an astounding 45% of its 18-49 audience over the last two years.
For the second night of Hollywood round, that number is a 44% drop.

I'm surprised more entertainment news organizations have not picked up on this story. Idol is given a pass because the ratings are so bad for the broadcast networks overall, with Idol still among the top shows for each week. But this is a massive drop in audience, far more than I think anyone expected. And when you consider that huge amount of promotion that this season of Idol received, along with the new judges, the ratings freefall is even more astonishing. The good news? Idol still is in no danger of cancellation. But I would expect more changes next year, with producers being much more budget conscious about the show, and I'm guessing a completely new panel of judges.

i am out this season because of the judges, i dont think i am alone...

i will be back with a new set of judges who are no name and we can get back to the people not the "judge showcase" that this show has become, i want to see the kids sing, not see the judges act like jerks...

She also sings on her albums. How much singing did Randy, Simon or Kara do? Let me also remind you that J.Lo. and Paula are terrible singers. If singing talent is your measure, Niki is one the more qualified judges Idol has had.

And let me remind you that 4 of the 5 people you named were terrible judges. All 4 of The Voice mentors are "singers," though only one has a really great voice. Still, all four turned out to be solid mentors and really the key to the show's success. Kudos to whoever cast that show.

At this point the ratings make it clear that hiring Mariah and Niki was a mistake, the same mistake that X Factor made by hiring Britney Spears. Big names are no longer bringing big ratings.

She "sings" like Paris Hilton "sang" on her album. For some reason when she performs live and the singing part comes up it's just backing track cranked up to the max.

I am watching Idol as always this year, and i am just so sick of 4 judges. Forget about who they are, its just that 4 judges is totally ponderous, time consuming, and boring as most of the time its one after the other saying the same damn things. Go to 3 judges, Randy and 2 other people dammit. If they want to save this show and have another year, they need to try next year 3 GOOD judges, and stop going for an overly big panel of judges who are a bunch of Diva's or dull personalities. Geez, Steve and J-Lo were so much better than this years judges.

So far this year Randy is better than in the past, everytime he talks we dont hear the infamous Yo Yo Yo Dog!!

As to who the judges are, this year this is a really bad group, but we all know that, no need to go into details.

Cant wait until we get more singing and less of the stories about how tragic some of the contestants lives are. Overkill, too much of this stuff.

I also dont think Group Night is fair at all, i think a few good individual performers who either cant do it in a group or are in the wrong group get sent home every year. It sucks.

Oh, how i long for the days of Simon. It always amazed me how people came down on him for being mean when most of the time he was the only judge that was actually telling the truth.

For now i keep watching, but lets see what happens down the road. I love music, and thats whats keeping me watching so far.

The promotion was mostly on Fox which, like every network that isn't CBS, is having a horrific time getting people to watch their shows. Fox promoted it during NFL games which is only a fraction of Idol's audience.

Too bad they're promoting silly stuff like that supposed fight between Minaj and Carey.

Mariah is either a moron, or simply has checked out of the whole process due to the garbage with Minaj. She's offering about as much as Britney did on the god awful X Factor.

It is amazing there was a lot of complaining about the producers putting too much emphasis on the celebrity judges. Here we are and all most people want to talk about is the judges instead of the singing.

I am not sure how Group Night is not fair. If you are going to work in the industry you are going to have to get used to working in situations where you are not comfortable. They are trying to see who can handle the pressure of learning a song quickly and putting together some sort of act/performance. When you going to be expected to sing two maybe three songs a week for months that is an important skill to have.

The chances are better if the group meshes well together, but that have put through plenty of singers on bad groups.

People will tend to speak about what they're shown the most. Whoever is producing Idol now has clearly decided that the judges table is where they want everyone to focus. It sure as hell hasn't been on the talent.

Idol has always been about the judges. The show became a hit because of Simon, not Kelly.

The show became a hit because of Simon + Kelly. The show never focused more on judging than singing than it has now. They're milking the childish drama for all its worth to the detriment of the actual talent. If the judges were interesting or their drama compelling, the show wouldn't be shedding viewers like it is.

My wife was watching men's group night while I was reading in the same room. I keep hearing all this crap singing....no one is remembering their lyrics....it drew me in like a train wreck. What happened to the days of Simon telling them "forget the lyrics and you're going home"? These groups murdered the lyrics and still get to the next round...now I know why I stopped watching.

Actually, I've been very impressed by some of the singing talent (started to say "voices" but minus the "s" that's another show, another network) on Americal Idol this year. It seems as if there are more true contenders this year than in the past.

They keep who they want. Always have. Two seasons ago Scotty McCreery completely forgot his lyics during a Hollywood week performance, but survived and went on to win the whole thing. I still laugh when I hear him sing about the "Nuts of wonder" in "I Hope You Dance."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HopPxd7ApQ8
Edited by Viventis - 2/11/13 at 11:55am

They've hired an egocentric insecure overbearing judge in Nikki M. That's not even entertaining. Mariah looks bored with her "job". Keith is ok, he brings some sanity to the table.
Edited by artemis2012 - 2/12/13 at 3:06am

I went into this season out looking for the WGWG during the auditions so I can tell who will win in the end. Surprise. There were none. No good looking boy with guitar. Jimmy Smith the blonde curly haired hulk does not have star charisma. And that's why I think a female will win this season. Just saying...

I thought the girls did a great job last night and agree that this is one of the most talented groups at this stage that AI has ever had.

Totally correct, a bunch of the girls are really superb.

Does anyone know if Idol is going to split the final 12 into 6 boys and 6 girls? I hope not, to me, it should be about 10 girls and 2 guys. Totally unfair to the girls this year if they do an equal split.

Agree. It should be the 12 best, regardless of gender.

Wow, the ratings for this past week were amazingly bad.

No matter how bad it gets, I could never imagine watching 2 1/2 Men over American Idol.

I don't personally know anyone that watches that show. Maybe people are just too embarrassed to admit it.

I used to really enjoy 2-1/2 men in the Charlie Sheen days, its downhill now. Much rather watch Idol.

Commericials for Idol aired on The Big Ten Network of all places. And you can bet that wasn't the only network besides Fox they aired on. I don't have any other specific examples because I don't watch that much tv. And don't underestimate the size of the football audience on Fox, which is HUGE and dwarfs almost all of the other programming in the ratings now that the non-football programming has fallen in the ratings so much. Plus sporting events are one of the best spots for commercials, since they are probably being viewed live rather than skipped on a DVR. This year's NFL telecasts on Fox were inundated with Idol commercials-far more than I had ever seen.
Edited by Jarod M - 2/16/13 at 6:09pm

Gee... I guess even the haters aren't watching anymore. Not even one rant... come on guys! I was pleasantly surprised by the format... half stay, half go home (within the same show) and the guest panel themselves. Outside of Mariah trying to explain/justify Randy's (shared) beliefs I thought they performed much better than I expected. I was most interested in/entertained by Nicki Minaj and as I have never been a fan Randy the least. Even Keith stepped it up (somewhat) and almost woke up. Mariah is already beyond the Britney standard of performance and hopeful won't stop there.

watched for the first time this season... couple of good singers.. but the show is very tired...

I didn't make it all the way through any of the performances, so not a lot to say. The song choices were universally dreadful, I felt like I was watching auditions for the local Sheraton Inn lounge act.

As far as the format, it will pretty much guarantee that a couple of the better singers go home early, so it seems like a dumb idea to me.